Thursday, December 19, 2013

In part two of this five part series I'm going to cover what I believe to be some of the more important aspects when it comes to training the mind to be strong for this practice. These topics are not in order of importance but just aim to provide some solid advice for developing and maintaining an effective mindset for training and improving in Parkour. Let's be clear, developing a strong mind is even harder than developing a strong body so it won't happen overnight. Parkour is not easy in any way, shape or form. It'll test you and often push you in ways you won't enjoy. You will get hurt now and again. Every time you train it'll expose and highlight your weaknesses, both physical and psychological, and give you a brutally honest answer if you ask, "So what can I do today..?".

To read an introduction to this article series and catch up with part 1, which covers training the body, you can click here.

Alright..

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14) The Art of War

Everyone is different but the way I look at it, when you strip all of the outer layers away Parkour at its core is about physically confronting challenges and obstacles and almost using movement as a type of weapon in this confrontation. In every conflict, to some extent one side will either win or lose and this is also the case in Parkour. When you are facing an inferior opponent then you have a greater chance of succeeding but you still need to be focused and calculating in your approach.. and the closer your opponent is to matching your skill, the more chance they have of defeating you. Of course, if you choose to face an opponent that outmatches you then you'd better have a damn good reason for it because you will probably lose.

To me, the jumps are the same in many ways. Even the easy ones require your attention and focus or they could kick your ass.. and even the easy ones have something to teach you. As you face more difficult jumps that are closer to your potential, you have to pay more attention and rely on your previous experience to figure out the best way to approach them. You need to be confident in yourself but at the same time do not underestimate them.

And when it comes to superior opponents.. facing jumps that are beyond your current ability is a recipe for disaster and you risk injury or worse. These opponents, or obstacles, should only be confronted as a last resort.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

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15) Accept that sometimes the obstacles will win.

You will face jumps that are well within your ability that you just cannot seem to crack today and this is a true test of your humility and patience. In these situations you are generally faced with accepting one of two choices. You can either walk away and come back another day, or you can remain and chip away at the problem in the hope of cracking it. Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't.

When you first notice a scary jump there is usually a very brief window of opportunity, during which there is a positive internal dialogue going on in your head. This could last anywhere between a few seconds to minutes. You'll be comparing it to previous jumps, reassuring yourself of your ability, testing the landing area and the take-off point, you may rehearse the run up and the approach a few times.. but ultimately this window of opportunity will gradually begin to close as the doubts creep in. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to invite fear, anger and doubt in to the equation and the scarier the jump will become. You will begin to over-think the problem and dwell on the negative possibilities and it takes a certain type of person to break through that, to remain positive and pry open that window of opportunity again. My partner described this better than anyone I've known to date when she told me that in this situation, she feels like she's far out at sea and trying to get back to the shore. Occasionally a wave comes that promises to take her back if only she has the confidence to stand up on the board and ride it home.. but if she misses the opportunity then it can be a long wait until the next wave comes.

I've faced countless jumps like this and I know first hand the feeling of staying and succeeding.. and the feeling of walking away. If you wait too long then there's not often a happy ending to be found in either. Walking away might leave you feeling frustrated and disappointed, but succeeding after so long and finding that the jump was simple and easy can actually leave you feeling worse, as you realise you just wasted an hour and a half and should have just jumped when the first wave came. There is often no joy to be found in breaking a jump after so long.. it's like you spent all that time fighting for something you believe in only to be told your princess is in another castle..

If it's a jump I know I can do and I feel strong then generally I'll ride the wave back home sooner or later.. but sometimes I'll walk away thankful I wasn't dashed on the rocks today.

With experience I've learned to recognise a jump that won't happen and rather than seeing this as a negative thing I've tried to treat this a bit like playing a game with an old friend. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the real pleasure is in playing the game and there's always another wave to catch next week.

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16) The Power of Now

Right, gloves off.. let's drop the sissy talk about disappointment and emotions and get back in the fight.

I believe there are many advantages to slaying a dragon right here and now.. before it grows and becomes a different beast entirely. It's crucially important that as a strong human being you have the ability to rise to the occasion when you decide to. Life won't always wait for a good time before throwing the shit at the fan so you need to learn to, no.. train to ignite that spark and light that fire at a moment's notice. If this is something you never do in your training then it's going to be that much harder to draw upon the courage to in a situation that calls for it. But if you're familiar with the feeling of pushing back when you're pushed.. and if you're familiar with smashing through that window of opportunity and putting all of the bullshit in your head aside and if you manage to just TRY the jump with all of your heart, then you have broken that jump and slayed that dragon, regardless of what happens on the other side. For breaking a jump is different from making a jump. If you know you truly gave it your all and didn't hold back with a single fibre of your being then win or lose, crash or conquer you broke it and won the mental battle, if not the physical one.

You will learn more from doing a jump now, today, at this moment than you will by coming back when you're 'ready' and when it feels easy. Sure, you could find a scary challenge, go away for a few weeks and train similar jumps, go inside to your nice warm, dry gym and replicate it with a mat and finally come back and do it without a pause but you will have bypassed a vitally important part of the process, if not the most important part of Parkour, and that is to face challenges head on and choose the more difficult path when one is presented. Step out of your comfort zone, rise to the challenge and dig deep. Get angry if you need to, find a reason, a purpose and a driving force that will make you do the jump. The time is now damnit.

Hate the idea of not trying it more than you fear the consequences of not making it and you will find a way to break the jump.

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17) Do something that scares you every time you train

It doesn't have to be terrifying but do something that makes you uncomfortable every time you go out to train. This regular exposure to fear will drip feed it in to your system and almost build an immunity to its sharper edges. You'll learn to process and manage this fear more easily, creating habits and processes for going through the next scary experience, in life or in Parkour.

The ability to deal with fear is a technique that can be trained and improved just like any other technique, and just like any other technique in Parkour it must be trained regularly if you hope to maintain and improve it.

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18) Breaking jumps

This is worth talking about in some detail even if the actual mental process will be different for everyone. I've seen people approach scary jumps in many ways and have varying degrees of success. All that is certain is that there is no foolproof method for overcoming the fear felt when facing a new jump. What works for me might not work for you.. but I can give you a few examples and things to consider that might help.

The phrase 'breaking a jump' comes from a French term and it simply means to break through that barrier of fear and apprehension that can form in the moments before trying something scary. With practice, it can become easier to break jumps but it's a very complicated process that can actually become harder during certain periods of your training. The problem is that the more experience you have in Parkour, the more you understand how a jump can go wrong and how much even a minor injury can set you back. The more you gain in terms of ability, the more you have to lose if it all goes wrong. In the beginning this is not something you think about because you have no such experience to relate to which is why beginners often have an easier time just jumping at something and trying it. Ignorance is bliss...

The first thing you need to decide is whether you're a person who needs to be calm to break a jump or someone who needs to be pumped up. I'm a bit of a middle-man in this field but like many others I prefer a brief moment of complete calm right before the jump, where all of the doubts float away and I flick the switch to GO.

However you prefer to approach breaking a jump it's important than when you do flick the switch, you go all out and don't hold back. If for example it's a running jump then you need to decide to go before you even take the first step. Practice the run up as much as you like but don't run at it and then try to decide towards the end of the wall. Confidence and predictability minimise risk. Hesitation and unpredictability breed danger. When you run off the end of the wall and jump halfheartedly then there is so much more that can go wrong. The situation is unpredictable because you don't know how much you've pushed and need to deal with things on the fly, very quickly. But when you push with everything you have then even if you don't make it, you still know how far you can jump so you know roughly where you will land, and you will spend more time in the air, giving you precious time to process the situation and react to the landing.

For the vast majority of problems in Parkour and in life, if you know you can make it and go all out then you'll be fine.

Some people listen to the background noises. Others sing to themselves. Many pace up and down breathing hard and a few spin in circles so they can see the jump with a fresh perspective every few seconds. I'm one of the people who counts down in their head and if I get to 1 and everything still feels good, I go all out and push for it. This countdown process only begins after everything else has been considered and processed. At that time I've already checked out the take-off and landing areas, I've made a brief plan of what to do if I overshoot or undershoot and I've worked out my steps for the approach. If it's a really scary jump but I want to do it then often I've visualised a situation in which I have to do the jump. I convince myself that staying where I am is more risky than trying the jump and failing it. This is not natural, takes practice and hell, I wouldn't even recommend it as it's a bit extreme.. but it works for me.

Breaking jumps is a test of willpower, of self-control and self-knowledge but there is a big difference in someone who is careful and calculating and someone reckless. The actual jump might look the same but the difference is again in the details. The intention and motivation behind their choice to do it can be completely different.

Watching other people facing jumps that are close to their potential is an incredible experience. You can only appreciate it fully when the person and the jump are equally matched at that time and it's the next best thing to doing it yourself. At that exact moment you are looking at a person stripped of all of their pretension and all of their ego. They can no longer hide behind their words or false claims.. it is a time for action. Regardless of how many of their friends are with them, they are completely alone. Nobody else can do the jump for them and they know it. Time seems to stand still or ceases to exist completely, background noises fade out and all of their attention is on one tiny little point of the Earth. There is an invisible but undeniable energy in the air, a high-frequency vibration you can't quite hear and a tension that could be cut with a knife. Like a freight train that wave is coming and you wonder if they'll have the courage to stand up and go with this one. If they do then just before it hits, something special happens. A half-second of absolute still and calm. You can see when they've accepted it, when they've flicked the switch and when they're going. They're now a victim to the experience. It's over in the blink of an eye and with the landing the background noises come rushing back, and the laughter, the cheers and the long sighs or relief replace the palpable silence. The fear is instantly replaced with joy and elation.. and it is that feeling right there that makes Parkour so addictive.

However you approach the process, aim to make your method more efficient over time. Find something that works for you and stick with it, training it with repetition just like any other technique. Learn to trust your method and refine it over time. Overall, your goal should be to minimise the amount of time that passes between you finding a jump you want to do, and you doing it.. and this is only possible from hours of deliberate practice.

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19) Don't watch too many videos

YouTube has done a lot of good things for Parkour but it's a double-edged sword. Whilst it has allowed the practice to spread far and wide in a relatively short period of time and introduced Parkour to a massive audience, it has also managed to do so in a way that I don't believe best represents what it is I do. More than 90% of the Parkour videos I've seen on YouTube are terrible examples of the practice I know and love. You need to dig through a pile of crap to find the occasional gem and if you go by view count or popularity, you have no hope.

The truth is that the vast majority of the people I know who live and train Parkour with the same spirit and motivations as myself don't make videos every week. If they do at all then it'll be now and again when they think they have something worthwhile and meaningful to share. They release that video because they believe it could be of benefit to someone else and because it transmits a message to other like minded people.. not because they want the world to see their latest showreel that they spent more time editing than they did moving on the day they filmed it.

So if someone recommends a video to you or you have some free time then sure, go burn an hour on YouTube and get some ideas and inspiration or check out how the guys train in another country, but if the internet is filled with videos of people moving in a way that you don't, remember that you are definitely not alone and the reason you don't see many videos that represent the way you train is because the other guys who could make them are too busy training.

Decide what and how you want to train today and don't be concerned with the trends in the community. I've seen them go from rail precisions, to kong precisions and double kongs, to Justin Bieber haircuts with baggy pants and skinny t-shirts, to skinny jeans and baggy t-shirts then back to focus on some actual movements that were primarily 180 cat leaps. All of that shit is just surface turmoil but underneath the things that matter never change. Choose your own values and decide what movements you want to get better at.. and then train the hell out of them.

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20) Read

Read books and articles from reliable sources. Find out how your body works and grows. Ask questions and find answers. Read books that stir the mind as well as books that will teach you how to eat for performance and recovery. Read books on how to stretch, mobilise, move and train so that you can maintain and upgrade the most complex and important machine you will ever own. Learn why most sports-related injuries can be avoided and how chronic pain can be alleviated by making a few simple changes to your daily habits and routine.

If I had to pick just a few titles that have been most useful for me in the past few years then I'd probably recommend:

Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Author) and William Scott Wilson (Translator)

..and anything by Jim Wendler.

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21) Train on your own

There are advantages to training in small groups that I will discuss in Part 3 but when it comes to training the mind there is no better way to improve certain elements than by training alone. Even the humblest of souls harbour an ego that is only present when in the company of others. It's the reason you stand slightly differently when someone walks in to the room and change the way you're speaking depending on who you are addressing. It's the cause of your defensiveness when someone questions your actions, even if they have the best intentions in mind as your friend. It's the reason for your excuses when you don't want to admit to just being too scared to do a jump and what brings you to say "I could do that easily if I didn't have this injury".

But when we remove the external influences from the equation you are left with just you, with all of your weaknesses and flaws up on the surface again. We can be honest for once and relax a part of us. Our mindset is different and our way of thinking, moving and training changes. We no longer consider someone else's opinion on that landing or worry about hesitating over a jump and how that might seem to someone else. It's liberating! And it's also a bit scarier in some ways. Without your friend to support or encourage you and without the pressure of someone watching you, suddenly your motivations become entirely internal. No longer are you doing it partly because your friends expect you to be able to.. no, the only reason to do something now is because you want to, because you choose to, for you. Nobody will know if you do or don't so making the decision to do something scary at that moment is fueled solely by your self-will and internal drive. It is selfish but in the best possible way.

Perhaps you're reading this now and thinking I'm an egotistical asshole but I'm trying to point out that this is something that we all have inside of us, to some extent. Some more than others. We all know the guy with the ridiculous ego who just can't stop talking about himself and his accomplishments but even the quietest, most down to earth person has a tiny piece of the same thing inside of them. I actually think that when kept in check this is a good thing and a normal part of being human. It's courteous and polite to reign in your bad habits and be a little more thoughtful in the presence of others.. but please, go wild on your own sometimes and experience intense, scary situations alone. You won't regret it.

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22) Accept that your family and friends just won't get it

I'm sorry, but they just won't understand Parkour unless they try it for themselves for a significant period of time. You can talk about it all you like and describe it in the most fine detail but they will never truly understand the point of it and the psychological changes that occur over time through training unless they try it. They'll think they get it and you might even begin to believe they get it.. but Parkour needs to be lived to be understood. Accept that everyone is different and as much as you want all of your family to know why you do this 'crazy shit', sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

Good friends are made quickly in Parkour because you see people for who they really are. In a single day of training you might see the same person laugh, cry and bleed. You'll see them scared, determined, courageous, selfish and selfless, happy and sad. Because you're spending time with people in a high stress environment and sharing rich experiences together, bonds are made strong and fast with people you like. Seeing people for who they really are in training is a shortcut to getting to know them that might take months or years if you only see that person in day to day life at work or school. In fact, before you marry someone you would do well to put them in front of a scary jump if you want to see who they really are. They might not do it but their humility, honesty and assessment of the situation will reveal a lot about them.

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23) Now and again do something crazy

I'm no stranger to ridiculous physical challenges and I don't think you should be either. These make no sense as far as linear, progressive training goes and shouldn't be done every week, or even every month. It's important to understand that they're more for the mind than the body. Title fights make no sense in terms of linear, progressive training for boxing since you spend over an hour getting punched in the face by a steam train.. but they set the stage for a chance to give everything you have and test whether or not that's good enough on that day. Win or lose, pass or fail, you leave the experience knowing yourself, your capabilities and your limits more than ever before.

Once in a while step out of your comfort zone and see just how far you can push it, just how long you can hold on for before your body quits. To know what you are capable of you need to go further than you have before and further than what is reasonable, or recommended. You need to go to the place where your body says stop.. then keep going just a little further.

A strong body is vulnerable without a strong mind to control it and the experience, confidence and self-knowledge you will gain from these challenges will help you to become a stronger person.

So whether it's 3 hours of quadrupedie, 1,000 muscle ups, a mile of rail balance, 500 jumps in a row, running to the next city and back before it gets dark, carrying your friend to their house a few miles away, climbing a mountain in the dark or whatever you dream of.. choose something difficult, but something that you only might be able to achieve.. for a challenge is not a challenge if you know you can do it. Aim high and let doubt creep in to the equation. Now you have to fight for it.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

To be and to last is one of the more iconic phrases that you might have heard thrown around in traditional Parkour circles, but what does it actually mean? It depends on who you ask but most people will agree on the basic principles behind it. As I've come to understand it, it suggests that a person should train their body and their mind to be able and ready for anything, and train in such a way that will allow them to be able and ready for anything, for as long as possible.

It suggests that a person should aim to be strong, but not just in a physical sense. They should aim to be resilient, free thinking, confident and yet remain humble. They should learn to be self-sufficient and useful to their loved ones and they should be aiming to always progress in some way.

To last? That old lesson about the brightest flame burning the quickest is particularly true in Parkour. What use is a person who lasts five years and has to stop training due to bad knees and a broken ankle? How useful is a body that can't move pain free due to years of neglect and abuse? The journey of Parkour was never meant to be a brilliant flash of spectacle and show, it was always intended to be a lifelong pursuit of improvement and one that doesn't need to end once the body begins to show signs of age. No, not whilst the mind is still young. Not if the soul still seeks adventure, and challenge and play. One day you might not be able to make the same jumps you could as a kid but you'll be strong and confident enough to spot your granddaughter when she tries her first cat leap and asks for your help, right? You'll still have exceptional balance, judgement and knowledge, and be able to pull yourself over a high wall if you need to. You'll still be active and mobile enough to be self-sufficient and useful to yourself and your family and friends. That is what Parkour is really about, the jumps are just a part of this training. It's really about knowing what you can do with what you have and having the guts to do it when the situation calls for it. And that can be practiced until the day we die. Hell, my goal is still to be the old guy sitting at the table who is the only one that can open that stubborn jar of pickles...

My journey in Parkour began in September of 2003. Before this time, the number of new practitioners taking up the discipline each week could probably be counted on one hand and it wasn't until Jump London aired on Channel 4 in the UK that the period of great growth really began. Jump Britain, the sequel to Jump London that followed, caused another, bigger surge of interest that found hundreds, then thousands of people begin searching the Internet for more information about Parkour. There wasn't much information available at that time but times have changed. There are hundreds of good tutorials, articles and coaches making an effort to ensure that good content is out there to be found by those willing to dig for it.

Now the rate of growth is hard to keep up with. Every Hollywood action blockbuster has to have a fancy foot chase across the rooftops before or after the car chase, and the terms Parkour and Freerunning are familiar to what is fast becoming the majority of the Western world and far beyond.

So with all this I'm not concerned about the discipline's growth any more. I've met enough good coaches and practitioners around the world to know that Parkour is in good hands and even if the media shines a light only on its spectacular side, people are smart enough to dig a little deeper and find out what it's really about if they are serious. I trust that newcomers will find the communities in their countries and be able to make an educated decision as to who is trustworthy, who the humble, quiet majority are, and who is a fake. Those who venture beyond the thin veils of YouTube, Red Bull(shit) competitions, newspaper articles and adverts on TV will find a wealth of fine, reliable information and decent people who can show them the way. Almost any media exposure Parkour has is helping people to find the tip of the iceberg but the great mass of content and worth lies under the surface for beginners to feast on if they wish to venture there.

It is my hope that this 5 part article series might be counted amongst the wealth of useful content already available to people who dive below the surface looking for more.

What will follow is more than 50 of the most useful pieces of advice I can hope to give to Parkour practitioners, of all abilities, for them to be and to last in this discipline. This is a collection of thoughts, experiences, and opinions both personal and as the result of conversations and time spent with many grizzled veterans in the trenches, both foreign and domestic, over the last decade. It will be released on a weekly basis to make it more easily digestible. So let's get down to business...

Part 1: Training the Body

A big part of being and lasting is to do with how you train and hone your body and its physical capacities. The following points cover the major topics that I wish I had known more about when I first started training.

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1) Prioritise high quality movement

It helps to remind yourself regularly that Parkour is about movement, not individual techniques. And whilst a well rounded strength and conditioning programme will help you to progress and protect your body from injuries, the whole point of becoming strong and protecting your body is so that you have a functional and capable machine to explore the environment with and use as you wish.

Seeking perfection in your locomotion and training to achieve an exceptional quality and standard in your movements, regardless of what they are, should always be a priority for the Parkour practitioner. It will take thousands of deliberate and precise repetitions to master even the simplest of movements but the more time you spend reinforcing the basic techniques, the greater your confidence and overall movement vocabulary will become.

Remember that Parkour movements themselves are excellent physical exercises. When the bio-mechanics of any movement are correct, the movement itself will strengthen the body and cause minimal damage. You use your entire body to travel over terrain and you can't beat actual movement when it comes to stressing the body in exactly the way you want it to adapt and improve for Parkour. High quality, regular movement training combined with a solid strength training plan will take you a long, long way.

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2) The pursuit of strength

Whether you're a beginner or have been in the trenches for years, your primary goal as far as physical training goes should be to become stronger. Rippetoe said it best when he reminded us that "strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general".

Strength is the rich soil from which all other physical capacities flourish. If you want to jump further, prevent injuries, improve your endurance and increase your bone density then you need to get stronger. Yes, strength gains will improve your endurance. Someone who can do 50 push-ups will further improve and be able to do more once they increase their upper body strength.. since pushing their own body weight will feel like a lighter load to move.

And yes, strength gains will also allow you to jump further by improving your body's ability to exert force on an external object, so that when that that external object is the ground, we can push against it with more force and jump higher and further than before.

Now there have been thousands of books written on the fine details of increasing your strength but to summarise what the majority of them say, look to use multi-joint exercises that are scalable, and do them with perfect form… making them harder as you improve.

Compound lifts such as the squat and deadlift should be the staple diet here and will help systemic growth. Olympic lifting is another useful tool for those who want to maximise their power development. Learning the basics of how to power clean shouldn't take too long under a good coach and this will give you a low impact training method that will allow you to maximise your power gains as you get stronger.

Remember that any exercise is a strength exercise to someone. If you can't do one push-up then a good strength exercise for you will be using a band to assist you in pushing to the top with good form, whereas this will be useless for building strength to someone who can already do many push-ups. It's about honestly assessing and diagnosing where you are and what you're capable of, and choosing the best strength exercises for you at the time. Weightlifting and weighted vests are useful because they allow you to make incremental increases in the amount of load you are handling.

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3) Train like an athlete

If movement is our blueprint for training and strength is our foundation, then good conditioning levels provide the mortar that will hold all of our techniques together when things get tough.

Having good levels of conditioning will mean you can train for longer and recover faster, which means the amount of hours per week you can now train will increase. It will also mean that should you ever need to use Parkour in a life or death situation, you will not collapse on the floor after a minute of intense movement under pressure.

If you're serious about Parkour then there’s a good chance you already take enough impact and joint stress without wanting to add any more during your conditioning training, so choosing joint-friendly, effective, time-efficient exercises is the key here. Cardiovascular training is important but don't pound the concrete for hours with jogging.. run hard and fast on softer surfaces. Find a big, steep slope and inject a healthy dose of hill sprints in to your regime once or twice per week. Carrying, pushing, throwing or dragging heavy loads such as a sled, boulders or even cars will do more good for your fitness levels in 10 minutes than an hour on the treadmill will.

Go as hard as you can for 2 minutes, 4 minutes, or 10 minutes, with or without rest periods and you'll notice that not only does your work capacity and endurance increase, but you retain your strength levels along with it. That is not to say that longer, more steady state cardiovascular training is useless, it should just have its place in a healthy, well balanced training programme and not be something you do every day.

The body is not very good at adapting to multiple stressors at one time so you cannot significantly increase your strength levels if you’re also jogging long distances every day. Go through seasons or cycles of training where you focus on developing some areas whilst maintaining others.. But choose exercises carefully so that they don't undo the months of hard work you've put in elsewhere.

Look in to Tabata training and 'finishers' and use these as the staple for your physical conditioning work. A long set of heavy squats with good form will do you more good than a marathon.

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4) Find something difficult and repeat it until it's easy

Difficult means possible, but something that takes your full concentration, excellent technique and just the right amount of power to achieve. If you do it perfectly every time then it's not difficult enough for you.

The trick is to find such a difficult movement, jump or challenge and spend time with it. Repeat it, reflecting on each attempt objectively and making an effort to improve each time. If you jump too far on the first jump and continue to jump too far for five more attempts then you need to make a deliberate change and bring the power back gradually until either you make it to your satisfaction or you undershoot.

Attempt, analyse, adjust, attack, again and again.

Once you can repeat it with success almost every time and it becomes easy, then move on. Find a new challenge, jump or movement and repeat the process. Use your experience from the previous jumps to give you confidence.

The biggest mistake people tend to make is moving on too soon before they really nail something. Often there is much more to learn from a jump than people think and they float around from jump to jump improving at each one a little bit but never truly mastering any of them. Can you still do it in the rain? Can you do it when it's dark..?

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5) Train both sides

You don't need to be completely equal on both sides but at least aim to be competent on your weak side. I've known guys with massive running jumps and a fearless approach to using them completely freeze up at the idea of doing a simple one-footed jump to a rail on their weak leg. If the imbalances are this severe then there's an issue. Not only is an individual such as this severely limited technically, they are also risking a long list of muscular imbalance issues by being so dominant on the one side. Postural and structural issues leading to chronic pain will appear if they're not already present. It's a time bomb waiting to go off.

The good news is you can fix this quite easily before it becomes a problem and if it is a problem then you can take steps to rebalance your body. It's fine to have a dominant side and most people do, just be sure to spend time working on your weak side every week. I aim to train both sides equally 90% of the time and I accept that there will be some jumps or movements that fall in to the 10% category that are just not going to be done on the weak side today. Those big, scary, technical jumps that take everything you are to come out the other side in one piece? It's sometimes enough to just 'do them' rather than worry about doing them on your weak side too. Sometimes.

One really nice way to train this is to occasionally spend a whole training day only working on your weak side.. You'll be surprised by how much you'll improve.

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6) Find the strangest jumps you can and let the jump dictate the technique.

Forget about the names. My favourite kind of jump is one that can't be categorised. It's the one where you need to jump high enough to clear the wall, but not too high that you hit your head on the branch and you must turn 74 degrees to your right and grab with your left hand around the corner on the hold you can't see.. Without your feet touching the ground. It's the jump so complex that thinking about it makes it harder. The kind where letting instinct take over reigns supreme and you just jump and adapt in the air.

"Wow, he just did a.. wait, what was that?"

"A jump."

The French guys have the right idea here. Listening to them talk about a route, they won't be talking about cat leaps, precision jumps, turn vaults and wall runs but they'll just be pointing and saying 'tac, tac, tac, tac... taaac!' To show where they will go, and this is great. They prioritise the obstacles, the course, the route and the direction rather than the techniques and it's a liberating way to think about Parkour.

I'm still amazed by the amount of practitioners who go to training spots looking for the jump they saw on that video and try to replicate it and film themselves doing it exactly the same way. Or they go to a spot and try to find the cat leaps or the kong to precisions instead of looking at what's there and letting the obstacles and terrain dictate the movements.

Focus on the obstacles!

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7) Test your CNS and adjust your training on a daily basis

If you're familiar with the term autoregulation in training then you'll know it's a useful tool. It's particularly useful in a Parkour context as it allows you to adjust your training plan for that day to get the most out of it.

Maybe you'll remember a training session where you just couldn't balance on a rail with the same ease as you usually can, or that it was just somehow harder to stick a rail precision that day. This is nothing to worry about and just one of those days where it might be worth training something less technically demanding.

The central nervous system is responsible for controlling every function of your body, including every movement you make, and just like the muscles in the body the CNS can become fatigued from training and needs time to recover between training sessions.

Different exercises impact the CNS to different degrees and if you've been doing a lot of heavy training over the past few days then it should be no surprise that you find it harder to balance today. Even if your muscles feel fine, your CNS could be fatigued and it's just finding it a bit harder to control the stabilising muscles responsible for helping you to balance.

So listen to your body and be aware that regardless of how fresh it might feel, it's worth using a few simple balancing tests as part of your warm-up to see how fresh your CNS is today.

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8) If in doubt, keep things simple

You don't have to over complicate your training to make progress. You will go a long way by just performing the basic exercises to a high standard, frequently. If in doubt, squat, sprint, climb and train your precision jumps. Those four exercises will have a lot of carry over to everything else in the discipline then you can add some complexity and variation when you want to.

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9) Train the simple things like your life depends on it. It might.

A lot of Parkour practitioners become very competent when it comes to moving at ground level but cannot express this potential when they are at height, even though there is no physical difference in the size of the jumps.

One good way of overcoming this common issue is to train every jump as if you were at height. With some practice you can actually begin to feel some of the same fears and doubts you experience at height but in a safe environment where there are no consequences. Combined with further training just outside of your comfort zone, you will gradually desensitise to the heights and you will also be training your body to make a jump first time, which is a very valuable and underrated skill.

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10) If a movement just doesn't work for you, don't do it

Just because all of your friends are training their '180 cat leap' techniques doesn't mean you have to. Think for yourself and if you don't enjoy a movement or if it is not something you want to use then don't do it. Parkour is about overcoming obstacles in a way that is safe and effective for the situation. Sometimes the situation will demand slow, deliberate and careful movement and sometimes you can inject much more speed in to it but the actual movements themselves are not important.

I know a couple of guys who just don't use the monkey/kong vault. They can do it.. they just don't like it and would prefer to run and jump over the obstacle instead. It works.

11) Stop worrying about your shoes.

I've seen masters of this practice move well barefoot and in boots. If your technique is good then footwear isn't so important. Sure, some footwear is better suited to Parkour but if you follow a few general rules then you can't go wrong.

Aim to find shoes that have a good rubber compound on the bottom and offer a fair amount of grip in both dry and wet conditions, on concrete, wood and metal. Test them before you buy them. Avoid any plastic sections on the bottom of the shoe as plastic slips on metal too easily*. Depending on what you're used to, aim to minimise the amount of padding in the shoe and gradually aim to use thinner shoes as your feet become stronger and your landings improve over time. Avoid ankle support as this will limit natural ankle mobility and lead to more wear and tear on the knees, which will have to compensate for the restriction. And try to find a flat sole.. if there's a raised heel then you will shorten and weaken your Achilles tendons.

Apart from a few simple guidelines, it doesn't matter what you wear. The brand is irrelevant and don't believe all of their superior technology bullshit. There was a recent study that found a direct correlation between the price of running shoes and the chances of becoming injured whilst wearing them. The more footwear deviates from the natural shape of the human foot, the more problems occur. Go read Born To Run by Christopher McDougall for much more information on this topic.

Expect to replace your footwear on a semi regular basis but remember this is one of your only expenses in Parkour. As you improve you'll find that they begin to last you longer as your technique develops and you begin to minimise the impacts and wear and tear on them.

*I once bought a pair of training shoes to train rail precisions that had a thick plastic section along the width of the sole, right in the middle.. just so that I couldn't land on the middle of the foot without serious consequences. Needless to say my technique improved quickly.

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12) Climb

If Parkour could be stripped down to just three types of movement, we would be left with running, jumping and climbing. Of those three, the vast majority of those who practice Parkour love the jumping, hate the running.. and neglect the climbing.

Most Parkour people are bad climbers because they rely on their upper body strength rather than technique. I'm not the best climber but I have been focusing more on this side of Parkour over the past couple of years and it's made a huge difference to my ability to move. Parkour is about passing obstacles, yes, but some obstacles can only be passed slowly and deliberately. And when the wall is too high to wall run then perhaps your only option will be to climb over. Spend some time working on your climbing technique, prioritise foot placement to reduce the amount of work your arms have to do. As a general safety rule, try to have three points of contact on the obstacle and only move one limb at a time as you climb.

Friday, April 05, 2013

I recently spent a few days filming with one of my good friends, Dr Julie Angel in and around London to make a short series of films talking about Parkour, the way I train, how my training has evolved over the years and how I think it is possible to last a long time in Parkour without getting seriously injured or burning out.

Friday, November 16, 2012

When did a 30 metre traverse with a kid hanging off your back become less important than some 18ft jump between two sheds with a 'sandpit landing'?

I don't give a damn about your long and loud strides, that 43 year old guy over there is twice your age, twice as strong.. and just dropped from 2 metres and didn't make a sound.

The things that should matter in Parkour, do not - and the things that are widely considered impressive are not, after you scratch the surface. Our value system is being corrupted.

I try to look at Parkour from a neutral point of view sometimes, as if I had never heard of it before.

What would I think if I found it now as a 17 year old, in late 2012? I imagine I'd think it looked like fun and I'd probably find myself being drawn to a part of it but I'd see something very different from what I saw nine years ago and I know it wouldn't appeal to me as much as it did then.

If you finish this article and believe in the values I believe are to be found in Parkour then you will hopefully agree that if we don't make more effort to share them, then they will be lost. Newcomers will just see big jumps and not an accessible and extremely versatile practice for anyone with a desire to challenge, test and better themselves.

What I saw in Parkour in 2003, at 17:

An elite few with a quality of movement and attention to detail in every action that is only achievable through thousands of hours of deliberate practice and training.

An unyielding warrior-like spirit in training and in approach to any challenge faced, whether physical, technical or mental.

A flourishing, positive community inspired by those who went before them.

A system of training and a community that valued all aspects of Parkour equally, and a collective consciousness interested in the practice of Parkour for a lifetime, not just a few months.

What I see in 2012, at 26:

A massive increase in the amount of people training around the world.

Big jumps.

Bad landings.

Competitions.

A precious few holding on to the old ways and doubting their reasons for doing so...

and ultimately, a shift in what is valued in Parkour.

It is those precious few and the shift in what is valued that I care about most.

I'm responsible for letting this shift happen unchallenged, as much as everyone else is from 'my generation'. We all stood by and let Parkour evolve and change and grow on the Internet without standing up and saying, "Wait a minute, that's nice.. but what about all of the other parts of Parkour I fell in love with? Where are they?"

I try to coach with these values I'm talking about in mind when I work with others and I know a lot of experienced men and women do the same, but it's not really enough to keep these values that some of us hold so dear contained to some Parkour classes in a few cities around the world. There is a need to show this on a bigger scale if we are to keep them alive, and more importantly we need to make a big enough statement that we can be found by those coming to Parkour for the first time looking for more than big jumps.

In the past few years, instead of holding on tight and believing in what we valued and appreciated in Parkour when we first found it, day-by-day, video-by-video our value system is being corrupted and even those few people who still believe Parkour is for everyone can end up feeling like they're falling behind in their training, not as good as this new guy, or that new guy because they can make that jump and you don't think you can, or maybe you don't even want to.

But if you remembered what it is you valued in the first place then you wouldn't care about not being able to jump as far as 'that new guy'. Remember what you once thought? What is any jump, great or small.. without a good landing? When did improving your climb up, your handstand push-up, your max squat, your quadrupedie and your dead-hang record become less satisfying than improving your running jump..?

I've seen groups of people training together and giving funny looks to the one dude in the background busting his ass with a weighted jacket trying to make his pull-up stronger. When did what he's doing become an inferior part of Parkour?

Physical challenges are nothing new in the Parkour world. For as long as there has been Parkour, physical challenges have been a part of it. In fact, as some of you will be well aware, long before the jumps took the spotlight, physical challenges were Parkour.

Not so much any more. Physical challenges (and hell, even physical training) are the endangered species of Parkour.

With a shift in emphasis over the past few years Parkour is no longer the perfect testing ground for finding out what a person is made of physically, technically, mentally.. and emotionally.

It is no longer about seeing if you can run to another town and back on an adventure before sunset, no longer about whether you can push that old car up the hill with the friends you have laughed and cried with all day.. and no longer about seeing value in being able to jump in to a wet tree in case you ever had to rescue one of those friends who was stuck in one.

It is now largely seen as a stage for the talented, an opportunity for people to show the world how they can jump further than everyone else, and how they flew half way across the world to do the same jump that some other guy did in that video he made last year, but wait, you can side-flip out of it.

I see competitions where the world's 'best Parkour athletes' and 'world champions' manage 37 seconds of running around trying to do something more impressive than the guy before him before the time runs out, or before they run out of stamina. 37 seconds of mediocre performance? I've known and trained with men and women who could last 37 minutes at that level of intensity.

Who let this bullshit creep in uncontested? When did this become such a focus? When did jumping further than someone else hold such value in Parkour? When did going to a spot and trying to replicate a movement someone else did become the goal? I hate to say it but we let this bullshit creep in. The day we began to doubt ourselves and wonder whether having a big jump might be important.

That is a huge jump even by today's standards and advanced training methodologies.. and that jump is far, far further than any Parkour practitioner has ever jumped between two walls. So why is the Parkour community (and indeed the world) so impressed when someone jumps 18ft between two sheds and crumples as if there was a sandpit like the one Jesse landed in on the far side? Is it because they were brave enough to do it over a gap? In too many cases their fear of falling is only defeated by the thought of being immortalised on YouTube in front of thousands of people in their pyjamas. Is that your idea of bravery? If it is, please close this page now for there is nothing here for you.

But having a personal and worthwhile reason to do a jump with inherent risks to prove something to yourself and to overcome your own apprehension and doubts, to act when everything inside you wants to shut down and go home JUST to improve yourself shows courage and resolve.. and these are some of the very values Parkour was built on. The very same values disappearing before our eyes. Running and pushing as hard as you can hoping to make the other side for the Internet or because your friend did it only shows recklessness and promises a short lifespan in Parkour.

I'd like to think that the majority of people reading this will agree that Parkour is just not Parkour without some of these values. Values like courage, resolve, endurance, strength, discipline, dedication and longevity. Values like humility, and altruism. Integrity.

There are many ways that we can help to positively channel the future of the discipline but refusing to allow values like these to be lost to the practice is a good start, and an easy place to start.

We can inspire the next generation of practitioners and allow them to see that Parkour is more than big jumps by not letting our opinions lie dormant.

Comment on videos, upload your own, write articles, coach, talk, travel and train the way you believe Parkour should be trained and let people see that side of it wherever you go. Represent it. Be it.

These values don't have to manifest themselves as challenges like those I mentioned earlier, but ultimately the only way we can significantly grow is to face hardship and adapt to overcome it. This might be in the form of 'breaking' a jump, in doing something that scares you because you believe it is worth the risk to overcome your fear and test your ability.

Maybe it will be technical. Maybe it'll be repeating a running jump to a thin railing and trying to land it perfectly 3 times in a row. 10 times in a row. 50.

Or perhaps it will be a physical challenge after all. Perhaps you will take one of your favourite exercises and test yourself and see how far you can take it. See how many repetitions you can do in 10 minutes or how much more weight you can lift after 6 months of dedicated training in it.

It doesn't really matter what the challenge is, what matters is that you face challenges regularly if you really want to test yourself and see what you are made of. This confrontation and will to overcome challenge is the heart of the beast that is Parkour and it is beating more slowly with each passing year in the community. But it is this regular exposure to challenges such as these that builds and instils these values in people.

What people don't seem to realise is that the 19 year old kid who can jump 18ft between those two walls after one year of training will more than likely not be here in a few years. Very few people last more than a handful of years in this game, either due to injury, fading interest or countless other obstacles. So whilst what he's doing is impressive, yes.. what you are training to do, 'to be and to last', for the next 10 years, 20 years... and more, still strong, still progressing, still training and enjoying Parkour.. is much more impressive to me. These are the values and the goals that impressed me about those elite few I mentioned before and these are the things I will not see lost as the years pass.

Don't apologise for the values you believe in and most importantly don't allow Parkour to lose them if you do believe in them. Parkour will evolve and become what it will in the public eye, but hold on tight to that which you consider important because you are not alone.

Don't let it die or the next generation might never see or experience what you saw and did when you found Parkour. Let challenge and longevity shape your training, your goals and your motivations. Set your own personal challenges, even some that might be impossible, for even in those you will learn a lot. Remember a challenge is not a challenge if you know you can make it. Push the envelope, invite doubt and disbelief in like old enemies and make them your friends. Face seemingly insurmountable odds, often.. and you will grow to be a stronger person.

If you want to repeat that little jump at an angle to a moss covered wall all day until you can do it with your eyes closed.. well my friend, you are not alone. I want to repeat that jump with you. But let's do 50, just to be sure. And one more for the others who can't join us. That'll do us both more good than that big roof gap whilst you hold the camera.

We are the minority now, but together we are still an influential percentage of those who say they practice Parkour. We can still let our message be heard for all of those coming to Parkour now, and in the next few years.

This is a call to arms for those I still consider to be the vanguard of Parkour. The time is now. Make a difference by showing and sharing and being the other sides of Parkour that you know and love. The sides that some would see forgotten as the discipline grows.

Monday, January 16, 2012

It was a year ago at the Christmas party and the day after the 1,000 muscle ups challenge.

I was so tired and sore that the never ending stream of amazing food arriving in front of us just tasted like bland toast. And besides, I had almost no appetite.

We were joking around about the next big challenge and how we could better this one. Unsurprisingly, everyone liked Stephane's idea of making it more of a technical or mental challenge, rather than a physical one... and his idea was 1 mile of rail balance without touching the ground. And if you did happen to touch the ground, then you had to start again.

It was one of those mysteries where you're not sure whether it's going to be next to impossible, or not too bad.

Either way, we quickly realised one of the biggest problems was going to be finding a long enough rail!

It was new year's eve 2011 and a few of us met up for some training to end the year. Still a bit tight from the 300 muscle ups just two days earlier, I decided to have a light day and just work on some short routes, basic techniques and balance work.

We were at Earlsfield and moved on to a nearby training spot towards Tooting Bec when someone remembered there's a low rail there that might do the job. It was indeed a good length, and more importantly, unbroken, to form a large sweeping circular shape with a few L-shaped corners thrown in to fit the shape of the grass.

We talked a bit about the challenge and agreed it would be a suitable place. The rail was slightly thicker than the average hand rail but that advantage was balanced out by the fact that it was very low to the ground, so if you should wobble then you had no hope of dropping to a hang to stay off the ground.

Andy measured it out and it was about 120 metres in total. Andy, Kush and I then walked a complete circuit to see how it felt and it wasn't that bad. Sure, it took a bit of concentration but there was no pressure and we all made it around.

Let's try it again.

It wasn't until 4 or 5 circuits later that I decided it was a pretty good rail for the challenge and maybe I should just keep walking and see how far I get... It'll be good practice for the mile.

How many times would we need to complete the circuit to hit a mile anyway? We were spaced out along the rail and Fizz, Leon and Joe had all joined in on our little experiment so there were quite a few of us now, and Dan was playing around with the idea of doing a circuit on all fours.

We worked out as we walked that it would take somewhere between 13 and 14 circuits to make a mile, and on we went.

After about 6 lengths, Kush wobbled a bit and tried to correct himself by speeding up, which took him off the rail. He stepped off, and knowing he wouldn't have time before work to start again and complete the 13, he decided to leave it until another day.

Joe fell off at some point and decided to carry on from that point and finish 13 lengths in total.

Leon fell off a little later.

Andy, Fizz and I were still going but Fizz had arrived a bit later so she was 5-6 circuits behind us.

I was at 10 when I remember thinking that I didn't want to fall off now and wanted to tick off the mile today - challenge number 3 of the week.

Being a bit of a weirdo, I decided I'd try for 15 since it was a nice round number and would guarantee that I was over the mile mark.

I was half way around the long sweeping half of the course, on my 13th circuit when I wobbled. It was an almighty wobble and I seized up so tight that I got a cramp in my hamstring trying to fight for stability... Somehow I corrected it and after a few cautious steps I was back in the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other, albeit with a bit more apprehension than before.

There are two things that you quickly notice after any long period of time spent balancing on a rail. The first is that it's quite a good workout for the shoulders, as you constantly use the arms to balance.

The second is that looking down and focusing on a bar as you walk forwards makes the background lose focus and move at a different speed, so your vision goes a bit strange and when you stop and look around you, the world is made up of moving waves. It's cool, but also a bit inconvenient when you need all of your senses at high alert for such a long period of time.

14 lengths. One to go.

At 3 different sections around the circuit there was an L-shaped corner where you could distribute your weight evenly between two directions on the rail and 'rest'. People would tend to get to one of these, take a few seconds to stretch the shoulders out, shake the legs and take a few deep breaths, before moving on to the next identical checkpoint.

I was at the second L-shaped corner piece on the 15th length and it was getting dark now. I knew I'd probably be fine since I was almost finished but Fizz was going to be finishing her last few laps in darkness.

When I reached the end of the 15th, I balanced a little further and cat leaped to a nearby wall, climbed up and relaxed a bit to wait for Andy who was a little behind me. He finished it without much trouble.

The mile was done in around an hour and twenty minutes or so, and although it wasn't easy, it was easier than we expected it to be and a lot easier than the previous two challenges of the week.

Fizz was doing great but wobbled, and fell off on her 12th or 13th circuit... We were all gutted for her since she had worked so hard for it and deserved to finish. She vowed to come back and conquer it soon.

A few of us headed for food and a few others stayed. We met up later to learn that Joe had finished his 13 laps and Leon had started again and done the whole mile off the ground without falling, after getting half way there in a previous attempt - awesome.

It was a great end to the year, but as I mentioned in the previous post, I'm going to take a break from these long haul challenges and focus on some other goals....

Monday, January 02, 2012

The 500 jumps had broken my quads down to a place they haven't been in a long time, and stairs were once again my worst enemy.

Everyone remembers trying to walk up or down the stairs following their first few training sessions, and it ain't pretty. That stiff 'Thunderbird-casual' walk you try to pull off as you approach the stairs and the straight face that tries to project "I'm cool bro, I got this." It lasts until you hit the first step and then it's like someone's wedged a slice of lemon in your cheek as the horror springs across your face. It ain't cool bro, and you should've called the elevator.

But, it didn't last long and by Thursday I felt almost 100% again. Three days of Thunderbird-casual isn't a bad price to pay for getting that forfeit out of the way.

Now, on to the next challenge. It was also back in 2009 that I first attempted the now infamous '300 challenge', that is 300 muscle ups in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. It was tough, but I finished it in 2 hours and 11 minutes on my first attempt and during the 1,000 muscle up challenge just over a year ago, I shaved 2 minutes off to make my personal best 2 hours and 9 minutes. I was happy with that but I saw something that day that I knew I would one day be facing.

My good friend Joe Boyle not only finished the 300 challenge in under 2 hours (1 hour, 56 minutes), but he also went on to finish the 1,000 muscle ups in around 8 hours... An incredible achievement. Now, I was happy just to finish the 1,000 muscle ups in one piece, but one thing I did want to tick off was a sub 2 hour 300...

I'd need to do it 9 minutes faster. It doesn't sound like much but when I sat down to do the maths it turned out to be quite intimidating. I'd need to do at least 2.5 per minute, every minute, for 2 hours straight to make 300 in 2 hours.

I'd enjoyed Christmas like everyone else back home with my family, and I'd eaten a lot of food, both good and bad. I'd soaked most of it up healing from the 500 jumps but I felt a bit bloated and not quite on top form as I went to bed on the eve of war.

Thursday. Even on the train to Leicester from Hinckley, I was doubtful. I didn't feel much better than last night and it was wet. Not raining, but everything was dripping, dark, cold and grey.

Just do your best.

The scaffolding was good. Tim, my old friend from Leicester had found us a fine set and he planned to attempt as many as he could in a 2 hour time limit too.

2.5 per minute, every minute... For 2 hours.

Right.

I started with sets of 3. I'd learned a valuable lesson for endurance challenges like this during the 1,000 and that was to listen to my body, rather than being too strict on timing.

I'd do 3, walk around, and when I felt good I'd do another 3. Shirley, my master tactician for the afternoon was helping me to keep track of the numbers and was working out how many I'd need to do to catch up if I had to, or how much I could relax when I got tired.

I had to hit 150 in an hour, but ideally I'd be at least a little ahead to give me some breathing space towards the end. My goal was to hit 180 muscle ups in an hour, which is 3 per minute for an hour, and this would allow me to drop down to doubles for the last hour.

The problem with that plan was that it relied on completing 3 within the minute, not on the minute, so rest times would be limited.

I'd stuck to 3 per set but I wasn't going fast enough. I hit half way after 56 minutes, 20 seconds, which only gave me 3 minutes, 40 seconds in the bank to slow down later.

162 muscle ups in one hour.

I couldn't drop to doubles, I was about 20 muscle ups behind schedule and felt pretty beaten up.

I was working hard and not resting as much as I wanted to, and yet I knew I had to somehow increase my workload if I was to finish this in under 2 hours.

It was around this point that I had an internal conversation with myself that revolved around me not wanting to do this again. I'm tired, this hurts and I'm just not enjoying these challenges any more. Dealing with pain is a necessity when you train hard, but dealing with pain for 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours, is just not nice. I've done so many of these long haul killer sessions that it's time to do something else, time to test myself in other ways...

I don't want to fail and have to come back and try again another day, I don't want to go to sleep tonight wondering if I could've given more.

So let's frickin' do this. Let's step it up, increase my effort, reduce my rest times and tear this whole goddamn scaffolding down if I need to. Whatever it takes to finish this in the time limit.

I stuck with sets of 3. The first two felt ok each time but the third was taking a toll. I had to claw back 20 muscle ups using 3 at a time to allow me to drop to doubles. I had to fight for the privilege to drop to doubles.

Walking to the bar, I'd repeat "It's just three muscle ups, anybody can do three muscle ups", under my breath, I'd manage two... fight for a third, drop, update my counter and walk around for 30 seconds or so then head back to the bar. It was hell. Again.

Muscle Ups 196-198:

I was down to being 9 muscle ups behind schedule. I had to claw back 9 more before I could drop to doubles.

4.

1.

Suddenly I was two ahead of schedule. I'd done 252 after 1 hour, 35 minutes, by reducing my rest times and pushing harder when I was on the bar.

I had 25 minutes left to do 48 muscle ups, but I was a broken man.

At 1 hour, 40 minutes, and after 264 muscle ups, I dropped to doubles. Time was quickly running out but I had five muscle ups in the bank and could afford to drop down to doing two per set, as long as I did at least one set per minute.

Muscle ups 285-286, shortly after dropping to doubles:

I remember looking at my watch and having 15 minutes left, and I had 25 muscle ups to do... This was going to be tight.

With 10 minutes to go I had 14 left. I can do this.

I had 3 muscle ups left and 5 minutes on the clock, I've got this. But then, I failed a double and managed just one muscle up for that set. OH... SH*T!

My failed double and obvious panic:

It was my first failed rep and suddenly a lightning bolt of fear shot up my spine. What if that was it? What if that was as much as my body had in the tank and I couldn't do any more?

I walked around, came back screaming "JUST ONE REP!" in my head and ripped up as hard as I could. My body was grateful and perhaps surprised that it was just a single rep, and I made it.

2 left. I finished them one at a time.

299:

I hit 300 muscle ups at 1 hour 58 minutes and 18 seconds.

1 minute and 42 seconds inside my desired time limit.

It was over...

With a little time left and with Tim still battling away, I did three more singles before the 2 hour time limit. 1 for Shirley for managing my time, 1 for Tim for his Herculean effort alongside me, and 1 for luck.

We went to a Chinese restaurant a couple of hours later and spent an hour and a half hammering the buffet service and refueling. As we ate, relaxed, chatted and caught up on news, there was a moment where I knew this was the last endurance challenge I was going to do for a while. Perhaps for a long while. I've spent the best part of eight years doing this kind of thing, and it's time to work on some other goals now. Of course, they're still Parkour/training related... but this kind of challenge with ridiculous amounts of repetitions, with time limits, without time limits, without missing, with forfeits, without, and with various other stipulations involved, they no longer interest me as much and I think I've gone as far as I want to with them, for now at least.

It was Thursday 29th December, almost the beginning of a whole new year, and I'd ticked off two items on my to-do list. I felt good.

That feeling lasted a few moments.

...Then I remembered I had agreed to a challenge that Stephane suggested just over a year ago. There was two days left of 2011.

Who Am I?

My name is Chris Rowat and I'm a Parkour coach with Parkour Generations, based in London.
We pass on our collective knowledge and experience of Parkour practice through personal training, group sessions, indoor and outdoor classes, international seminars and we also run a highly successful school programme.
You can find out more information at ParkourGenerations.com.
This blog contains a collection of thoughts, experiences, articles and personal training programmes and their results from 2003 to date.
I hope you enjoy looking around.